So I recently started looking into playing some older games and Zelda seems to be the one series I have missed out on most. I played the original top view gold cartridge for hours and never played any other Zelda games after that. I have in one way or another come into possession of an NES, a SNES, a Wii and a 64 and I'm wondering which of the games to play and in what order.

I didn't realize how acclaimed the series is until I watched G4's top 100 games of all time and saw Link all over the place. I know that chronologically would make sense, but I don't i can go through the entire series without losing my job. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If I were you, I would start with the earlier generation consoles and go from there

start with Link to the Past for SNES--then Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask for N64--then wind waker and twilight princess for gamecube

If you aren't feeling link to the past after some hours into it, then just skip, but since you liked the original you should enjoy it

If you only have time to play one then go with Ocarina of time

I would advice against playing the newer gen games before older ones back to back. I beat twilight princess then attempted to go straight into ocarina but the controls and graphics were too inferior for me to adjust to when playing consecutively like that

if you like the top down zelda games, then there are a ton for the nintendo handhelds you can look into. all of which are pretty good from what I hear

If you are going to play 3d Zelda games, just start with "Ocarina of Time" and move forward in the order they were released. (There is a version of OOT on the 3DS with improved graphics and gameplay.)

If you are looking at a 2d Zelda, I'd start with "A Link to the Past" and then start looking at the handheld iterations. Unless you are really committed, the original NES Zelda and it's sequel are semi-impenetrable.

Having said all of that, if you are only going to play ONE Zelda game, I would play Wind Waker. The graphics still look beautiful, the story picks up quick compared to most of the other games, and it's pretty easy, so you could breeze through it and get a good feel for what other games in the series play like.

If you play through a few Zelda games, like the gameplay, but are looking for different motifs, give Okami and the Darksiders games a look.

quote:If I were you, I would start with the earlier generation consoles and go from there

start with Link to the Past for SNES--then Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask for N64--then wind waker and twilight princess for gamecube

If you aren't feeling link to the past after some hours into it, then just skip, but since you liked the original you should enjoy it

If you only have time to play one then go with Ocarina of time

I would advice against playing the newer gen games before older ones back to back. I beat twilight princess then attempted to go straight into ocarina but the controls and graphics were too inferior for me to adjust to when playing consecutively like that

if you like the top down zelda games, then there are a ton for the nintendo handhelds you can look into. all of which are pretty good from what I hear

This is the exact advice I was thinking of when I read the original question.

Play as much back to front as you can. The N64 games haven't held up as well control wise as some of the other games, but don't get me wrong, they are very playable. I just finished replaying a link to the past and the snes controls are still very good. All of the gameboy, advance, and DS zeldas are great games too.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm gonna start with "the adventure of link" and go from there. I'm limited to the consoles I mentioned earlier so I will probably have to skip the handheld/GameCube versions.

A Link to the Past Ocarina of Time Majora's Mask Wind Waker Twilight Princess

Those are the must plays in my opinion. Others may include Skyward Sword. I enjoyed the story, but just found the game to be a step down from greatness overall. Others will also say Twilight Princess isn't a "must play" but I personally find it in my top 3.

eta:

quote:"the adventure of link"

Zelda 2? Aside from the CGI games, that is the one game most people tend to ignore. It isn't exactly a bad game, it is just totally different than any other Zelda and pretty difficult.